He covered her hand, the liquid heat coating both of their fingers urging him faster. His thighs slapped against the back of hers, and the sounds of her rich moans floated out into the huge loft room.
It was the most amazing song he’d ever heard.
His shoulder was jammed into the pillows and he unearthed his half asleep arm to wrap around her neck and shoulder to stabilize her as much as possible. She arched and he thrust into her with long, driving strokes. His muscles protested, his abs on fire, but he didn’t let up. She growled out his name and her walls fluttered over his pulsing cock. He banded his arms around her shoulders and lost himself inside of her until the room fuzzed around his periphery and he emptied himself inside of her.
Until she stopped quaking over him.
Until they were both so far gone that they both lay limp on their backs.
“Oh, wow.”
He laughed. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Me neither.” She slid off of him to curve onto her side. “Oh, I’m going to pay for that exceptional orgasm.”
He sat up. “Did I hurt you?” Dammit. He brushed his hand down her arm to her hip. “I’m sorry. I—”
“Logan. No.” She winced as she settled onto her back and moved closer to him.
“That face says I hurt you.”
She covered his face with her hand and squeezed his lips together like a duck. “Listen here, Mr. King.”
He batted her hand away. “You have to tell me this stuff.”
“I’m okay. I’m more than okay. Remember when we did that thing on the couch and I tried to throw your back out?”
He snorted. “Well, you’re far more flexible than I am.”
“I didn’t kill you, did I?”
He remembered back to the way she had used the arm of the couch for leverage and he’d gone so fucking deep inside her, his eyes had crossed. But he’d gotten tangled in the cushions of the couch and turned the wrong way. He’d held the goddamn pose because she had screamed her goddamn head off and shook like a leaf in a hurricane as she came around his cock.
It had been worth the Advil.
She nodded. “I see you remember.”
He swiped his hand down her cooling skin and plucked her nipple. “I do.”
She grinned up at him and cupped his jaw. “It was a good hurt.” The smile slid away, leaving a little sad behind her bright eyes. “An alive one.”
He lowered his mouth to hers, tasting her pain and her grief. He took a little of it inside him as he rubbed his cheek against hers. Her arm came up around his neck and he held her tight. There was no way he would let any more pain touch her.
Not ever.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Wake up, sleepyhead.”
Logan opened one eye. Izzy was kneeling beside him, her eyes bright and happy. Fiona sat next to her, and she was pawing at the air, as excited as her mistress. “We went to bed like two hours ago.”
“No, we had six hours of sleep, but that’s only because you woke me up at two in the morning for ice cream.”
He rolled onto his side and punched the pillow until he could jam it under his chin. “It was exceptional salted caramel gelato if you want to get specific.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Hey, you didn’t mind me licking it off your nipples last night.”
Her face flushed. “Well, no. But because of that very sticky, very delicious game, we had to take a shower at half past two.”
He grinned. And they’d stumbled to bed well after three. They were becoming quite adept at shower and tub games. It was good to know that they were connecting again. Some late nights were rough. Memories snuck through when both of their defenses were low.
And sleep seemed to be prime nightmare time for both of them. Instead of repressing the memories and tears, they often talked in the middle of the night. But he also tried to offset some late nights with fun.
So going to bed didn’t equate nightmares.
It was working for them. At that point, that was all he could ask for after so many weeks of misery.
“And why are you so chipper?” As if he didn’t know.
“We have a Skype date.”
“Oh, right.”
She pushed him on his back and straddled his waist. “I’m dying to see the guys.”
He folded his arms under his head. “Should I be jealous?”
“Maybe. Julian does have a rather delicious speaking voice. And he really turns down the bass so he’s—” Her words cut off into a giggle when he flipped her onto the bed.
“Excuse me?”
“What? Cumberbatch has nothing on Julian. Well, okay there’s that accent, but other than that.”
Logan dropped his forehead onto her stomach. “You look forward to these vid chats a little too much.”
She threaded her fingers through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes. “I do it for Fiona. She misses Cody.”
He snorted and kneeled over her. “Is that so?”
She nodded solemnly and looked up at the lovesick dog in question. Her tongue lolled as her tail wagged at them. “See?”
Logan ruffled her fur and sat back on his feet. He reached over to his bedside table for his phone. It was twenty after ten. And that was about all his phone was good for up in the mountains.
He barely had a bar of service. If he held it just right in one corner of the porch, sometimes he could get a text out. The chances of getting one back were usually on par with winning the lottery, but he tried to keep in contact a few times a day to either Zeke or Marcus.
Fiona bumped his shoulder.
“All right. I swear I’m getting up.”
Izzy rolled off the bed and headed for the door. “I’m going to make breakfast.” She stopped and turned, her two braided pigtails sliding over her shoulders, making her look like a teenager. “If I come back up here and find you sleeping, you’re in trouble, buddy.”
“If you come back up here, I’m going to find something else to do with those handles you’re sporting.”
She laughed her way out the door and down the stairs.
Logan took a quick shower and trimmed up his jawline a little. As much as she seemed to have enjoyed his ice cream extracurricular activities, her skin has been really abraded from his heavy scruff.
A honeymooning couple had taken the cabin next door to them for the week and they were a little too close to his age. The wife had been giving him weird looks since they’d run into each other in the rec lodge. So he’d shaved his beard into a goatee and wore his baseball cap whenever he left their cabin.
It had worked when they’d gone into Massachusetts for the day. He just hoped it would work here, too.
Halfway down the stairs he smelled heaven. Izzy had a cast iron pan out and bacon was sizzling. A pile was draining on paper towels on the counter.
He came up behind her and pushed one of her braids aside. He ran the tip of his tongue around the shell of her ear. “Smells delicious.”
She lifted her shoulder. “That is not going to get you bacon.”
“C’mon, just one.” He slid his hand down into her jeans, finding a barely there thong. “Well, what do we have here?”
She wiggled back against him. “I have to do laundry.”
He traced his fingertips over the flimsy string that curved up her hip. “I like laundry day.” He liked laundry day better when she was completely out of underwear, but this was almost as good.
“Logan,” she said with a warning tone.
“Am I distracting you?” He dragged his goatee up her neck to taste the skin behind her ear.
She tipped her head back against his chest as he dipped his fingers under the front panel of her panties. “Depends on how burnt you like your eggs.”
“Over easy.”
“Then yes, you’re distracting me.”
“I think you are very capable.” He circled the pads of his middle fingers over her mound then under to find her slick for him. Her nipples bea
ded up under her Firefly t-shirt.
“If you make me splatter grease, I’m going to find ways to exact my revenge.”
He laughed and slipped his hand free from her jeans, snagging a piece of bacon. “Tastes even better,” he said and licked his fingers.
She popped him on the ass before he could get by. Because this was not the first morning they’d done this, he gathered plates and started coffee. A few minutes later, they dug into their breakfast.
“Where are they calling from today?”
He dipped the corner of his toast into the yolk. “I think they’re in Philly.” Part of him missed the road. The playing, the crowds. At least he’d liked the crowds once upon a time. Now, he never knew who he was going to see.
She closed her hand over his. “Miss them, too?”
He nodded and tossed the last corner of his toast into the air. Fiona caught it with a snap of her teeth. “They’re out on the road with Cole right now. He’s a good guy.”
Cole Deveraux had played with him two summers ago, when he’d met Izzy. Now the country rock singer had his first hit song and was doing a mid-sized club circuit that had started the week before. It was the perfect kind of tour to keep All the King’s Men occupied. He just hated that they had to be occupied. That they weren’t working on another album or touring.
Even if he and Izzy weren’t holed up in the back of beyond, he wasn’t even writing music, for fuck’s sake.
Izzy laced her fingers with his. “You all right?”
He swiped his thumb over the side of her hand. “Yeah. I just miss the idiots.”
“Me too. So,” she stood up, “let’s clear our plates and head down to the lodge.”
He stood up with her and palmed the back of her neck. He brought her up on her toes and kissed her. Her taste reminded him why he was doing this. Solidified the plan that he’d been following.
When he stepped back, she blinked slumberous eyes. “What was that for?”
“Always keeping my eye on the prize, Izzy.”
She slipped her arms around his middle and hugged him tight for a moment before picking up their dishes and bringing them to the sink. After they cleaned up, they bundled into parkas for the brisk walk down to the lodge.
Fiona ran in and out of the woods as she chased whatever woodland creature was still alive in all this damn cold.
Logan pulled open the large doors and wished he could unsee all of what was before him. Including the lily white ass thrusting for all he was worth. He spun around. “Oh, hey there.”
“What?” Izzy looked up at him with a tilt to her head. “What? Our video chat’s in five minutes.”
“Sorry,” Logan called out over his shoulder.
The newlyweds were laughing. “Okay, it’s safe,” said the woman.
“Oh.” Izzy’s eyes went wide. She went on her toes and tried to look over his shoulder.
He gave her an incredulous look and she shrugged. “What were they doing?”
“Well, the guy was definitely getting it into the corner pocket.”
She let out a peal of laughter and skirted around him. “Sorry, guys. We just have to check in at home.”
The pretty blond—Tracy, he was pretty sure—blushed. “We didn’t realize anyone else was, um…coming. Oh, God, I—”
Her husband winced. “Okay, sweetie. They got it.”
“Right.”
“So, we aren’t going to be doing that. At least not on that side of the pool table,” Izzy said out of the side of her mouth.
Logan’s lips twitched.
Tracy grabbed her sweatshirt off the felt and cleared her throat. “We’ll, uh, leave you guys to it.” She and her husband laughed and tripped over each other to get out the door. “I still say he looks like someone. I just can’t put my finger on it,” Tracy said in a voice that wasn’t even close to a whisper.
Logan pulled down his ball cap. They just couldn’t catch a break. Izzy crossed to the small desk and the twenty inch monitor. She booted up and loaded the video program.
Fiona squeezed in the small opening in the doors just as Christian’s face filled the screen.
“Logan, how’s things?”
He smiled back at the screen. “Good to see you, man. How’s the tour?”
“Awesome. Cole is doing just great. He’s really killing it every night. Packed houses.”
Logan swallowed down a lump and kept smiling. He remembered when Chris was just as pumped about one of their shows. Even if it felt a million years ago.
Izzy dropped onto his lap and wrapped her arm around his neck. “Hi, Christian. How are my boys treating you?”
Chris blushed. “You know how they are.”
“Are you talking shit about us?” Zeke, with his shaggy curls, sat off to the side. Cody popped his head up and barked. Chaos ensued as the couch on the bus was filled with the rest of the band. Cole even waved as he went to the front of the bus with a sandwich in hand.
“I didn’t know we were missing lunch!” Zeke yelled after Cole.
He simply held up a middle finger. “I don’t feed the animals.”
“Man, see how we’re treated? You guys need to come home. We miss you desperately.”
Logan wrapped his arm around Izzy’s hip. “You guys look good.” They did. All of them were at the beginning of a tour, so the fatigue hadn’t set in yet. There was still excitement as they hit a new city and a new crowd.
“How are the wilds of Mai—err, the white tundra treating you?” Zeke cleared his throat.
Fiona nosed under his arm until her head was resting on the desk. “All right. We already got snow. There’s actual mini icebergs in the river.” He rubbed behind the dog’s ear. “Oh, and all of us miss you if you couldn’t tell.”
Julian leaped across the lot of them, landing hard on their laps. There was name calling, rude gestures, and Julian landed on his ass in the aisle of the bus, but everyone was laughing, including him and Izzy.
Seeing them all together was a healthy dose of normalcy. Something they both needed to see.
Izzy couldn’t stop smiling into the screen as the guys teased her. It was good to see her smiling. Smiles were coming a little easier these days.
Zeke sat forward on the couch. “Marcus wants a check-in today if that’s cool.”
Logan’s smile slipped. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah. As far as I know anyway. He’s just getting antsy with Bishop. The guy—DeSalvo—he’s been hard to pin down.”
“Thanks for keeping in contact with him. The signal out here is crap.”
“All good, man.” Zeke’s smile softened. “You look good, Bellamina.”
She pressed her cheek to Logan’s. “We’re doing better.” She cleared her throat. Her voice a little thicker. “Have you heard anything about Adam?”
Zeke’s eyes clouded. “No. I finally got a nurse to talk to me at least. No change. No reason for him to be in the coma, he just won’t come around.”
She lowered her chin to her chest and sniffled. Logan stroked down her braid. “Thanks for checking in with them.”
Zeke saluted. “Covert ops report complete.”
Logan snorted. “Freak.”
“That’s what she said,” Zeke shot back.
Izzy gave a watery laugh and Logan sat back.
Morgan looped his arm around Christian’s neck and leaned in. “Catcha later. I need some sleep.”
Christian waved. “Behave, you two.”
Emerson pushed Zeke off the couch. “You better be writing over there, man. We’ll be itching to get into the studio the minute you’re free.” A flash of teeth glowed out of his overgrown beard. “Have you been using your cooking lessons to feed that guy?”
Izzy nodded. “I’ve used all the ones I had on my phone. I’ll be ready for more.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” Em flicked Zeke’s ear and moved out of the video feed.
Julian stuck his head up from his perch on the floor. “Catch you in two week
s.”
“Bye guys.”
Zeke pointed at the screen. “Be safe.” Then it went black and the Skype watery chime echoed into the game room.
His phone call with Marcus on the landline was a lot less exciting. The same old song, in a tired loop. He couldn’t even re-write that one.
He was beyond tired of waiting.
It felt like they were a step away from something, he just wasn’t sure if it was a step toward their goal or in front of a truck.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Bella came down the stairs, blotting her hair with a towel. Logan was in the living room, pacing as he texted furiously. He kept holding his hand up on the deck, like that was going to improve his signal.
She curled her toes into her slippers. October was rapidly dwindling into November and the temperatures were showing it. And still, Logan was on the deck then back inside.
“What happened?”
He looked up from his phone. “Bishop finally got in with DeSalvo. But I can’t get any other details.” His long fingers curled around the phone a little too tightly.
She went over to him and tugged until he let the phone free. “Go down to the computer at the rec lodge and email or call him or something.”
“I tried that. The whole area is down. Some storm in the next county knocked out the freaking internet and the phones.”
She tucked her hands into her sweater’s sleeves and went to the back door. The sky was a roiling gray, making the last of the leaves seem even more fiery on the trees. The river rushed with a few chunks of ice from the last storm that had blown through.
In New York, October was usually too early for a storm, but in Maine, it was simply a fact of life. They’d had two with actual snowfall so far.
He came up behind her at the porch railing and slid his arms around her waist. He snaked his hand inside her wide sweater sleeve and she smacked his hand. “That quarter of a bar isn’t going to change, buddy.”
“Come on. Just let me see if the text went out.”
“No.” She shoved the phone into her bra.
“That is not a deterrent.”
She laughed and wiggled out from under his arm and back inside. “It is when I bite.”
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